John F. Loud

1930 - 2004

Dr. John F. Loud, 74, a professor of Slavic languages and literature, died Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004.

Funeral: Services will be private.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the family would like to suggest contributions in his honor be made to the Fort Worth Civic Orchestra, the Van Cliburn Foundation or the Fort Worth Society for Early Music (now the Camerata), organizations he formerly served as a board member.

Dr. Loud was born in Boston, and grew up in Lincoln and Brewster, Mass. In 1949, at the age of 19, he hitchhiked across the United States, along the way attending the first Aspen Festival, working in fruit orchards in Oregon and riding the rails across Utah.

In 1951, he received a degree in music from Bowdoin College in Maine, then enlisted in the United States Army. He learned to speak Russian at what is now the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif. He was stationed in Austria, where he swam for the Army team in the U.S.-occupied quadrant, skied and perfected his German. In 1957, he received his M.A. from Harvard University in regional studies of the Soviet Union.

John was employed by the U.S. government in Washington, D.C. and achieved a working knowledge of Polish, Bulgarian and Hungarian. He taught in Massachusetts and Connecticut before receiving his Ph.D. in Slavic languages and literature, also from Harvard, in 1971. John moved to Fort Worth in 1972 and taught Russian language, literature, culture and civilization, as well as Latin at TCU, retiring in 1997.

During his varied career, he published many articles and translated and annotated several significant works from Serbo-Croatian, including "Fall of the New Class" and "Rise and Fall" by Milovan Djilas, predicting the eventual disintegration of communism and subsequent developments in the former country of Yugoslavia.

Dr. Loud never abandoned his love of music. He was active in the music community in Fort Worth, first in chamber music (predominantly amateur string quartets), then in the Fort Worth Civic Orchestra, of which he was a charter member in 1977.

Survivors: Wife of 46 years, Patricia Gaynelle Cummings Loud; brother, Robert Loud of Lincoln, Mass.; sister, Jean Mallary of Brookfield, Vt.; children, Sarah Anderson of Austin, John Timothy Loud and Alexander Guinn Loud of Northfield, Mass.; grandchildren, Madeline and Julia Anderson and John Brewster Loud.